Crop Prices Near Bottom, Cash Rents Will Stay High

For farmers looking ahead to the next marketing year, crop prices appear to be near their low point, says Paul Neiffer, aka The Farm CPA. Neiffer is participating in the 2013 Pro Farmer Midwest Crop Tour this week and tells Farm Journal Radio’s Pam Fretwell that conditions in Illinois and Iowa are the driest he’s seen in the four years he has been a scout.

"I’m not going to say that the prices have bottomed out, but I think we’re pretty close," Neiffer says. "I think a lot of it is that the report that came out last week … that’s the maximum this crop’s going to be. I think every day if it stays warm and we don’t have rain, we’re losing another half-bushel or a bushel off of that average, and I think there’s a good chance it’ll be down in that 13 billion range or even lower."

Meanwhile, cash rents likely will remain steady heading into 2014.

"I think cash rents for next year are still going to be high," Neiffer says. "You always have a one-year or two-year lag on rates coming down. They tend to ratchet up maybe a little bit behind the curve, and they’ll ratchet down behind the curve."

Click the play button below to hear more from Neiffer about crop conditions and marketing in 2014 and 2015: